ANNA  S.  KUGLER,  M.  D. 


A Pinnm  i91p&tcal  fKiBStanary 

Anna  S.  K.ugl  er,  M.  D. 

By  MRS.  CHARLES  P.  WILES 


Into  the  home  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Kugler  and  Mrs. 
Harriet  Sheaff  Kugler  there  came  one  April  day  a wee, 
brown-eyed  baby  girl.  This  little  girl,  Anna  Sarah,  as 
she  was  called,  when  of  proper  age,  started  to  public  school 
in  her  home  town  of  Ardmore,  Pa.  Later  she  attended  the 
private  school  of  Miss  Markley,  at  Bryn  Mawr,  and  the 
Friends’  School  at  Philadelphia.  Always  a serious-minded 
child,  she  was  sensitive  to  impressions,  so  it  was  not 
strange  that  when  a Baptist  missionary,  home  on  fur- 
lough from  India,  addressing  a Lutheran  Sunday  School 
one  Sunday  afternoon,  made  an  appeal  for  more  mis- 
sionaries, little  Anna  said  within  herself,  “I’ll  go.”  As  she 
and  her  sister  were  performing  some  household  tasks 
one  day,  she  told  her  sister  what  she  purposed  doing  with 
her  life.  In  her  resolution  she  never  wavered.  The  strong 
quality  of  her  nature  was  manifested  by  the  fact  that 
she  decided  to  fit  herself,  not  to  enter  a line  of  work  al- 
ready established,  but  to  blaze  the  trail  for  a work  the 
foundations  of  which  she  herself  would  have  to  lay. 

Graduating  from  the  Woman’s  Medical  College,  of  Phila- 
delphia, with  honor,  she  was  appointed  First  Assistant  Phy- 
sician at  the  State  Asylum  at  Norristown,  being  one  of  the 
first  women  in  this  country  to  receive  such  an  appoint- 
ment. A future  bright  with  promise  lay  before  her  in  her 
own  land,  but  she  could  not  escape  from  the  conviction 
that  her  work  lay  in  India. 

In  1882,  she  made  application  to  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  to  be  sent  out  as  a medical  missionary.  Her  ap- 
plication was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Woman’s  Society  who  decided  they  were  not  yet  ready  to 
undertake  medical  work,  but  would  send  her  out  to  teach 
and  do  general  work  until  such  time  as  medical  work 


Could  be  begun.  About  the  middle  of  the  same  year,  Dr. 
Kugler  received  a letter  from  Rev.  A.  Rowe  telling  of  the 
great  need  and  urging  her  to  come  out  before  the  close 
of  the  year.  The  following  year  Dr.  Kugler  was  appointed 
to  India,  having  accepted  the  conditions  of  the  Executive 
Committee  with  certain  mental  reservations,  knowing  that 
a qualified  physician  would  not  be  long  in  a country  so 
greatly  in  need  of  medical  relief  as  India  without  being 
called  upon  to  help.  She  sailed  from  Philadelphia,  August 
25,  1883,  and  reached  India  on  November  29  following. 

Before  leaving  Philadelphia,  a devoted  woman,  Miss  Re- 
becca White,  a member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  gave 
into  the  hand  of  the  young  physician  one  hundred  dollars 
for  instruments  and  medicine,  and  this  sum,  with  one  hun- 
dred dollars  additional,  furnished  her  simple  equipment. 
Upon  her  arrival  in  India  it  was  announced  in  the  Madras 
papers  that  there  was  “no  other  woman  physician  in  the 
Presidency.” 

She  was  not  long  in  finding  patients.  Her  first  patient 
was  a Brahmin  widow,  needing  an  operation  for  cataract. 
The  second,  the  wife  of  a Sudra  inspector  of  vaccination, 
was  an  invalid  of  five  years’  standing  with  a chronic  dis- 
ease of  the  joints  which  no  amount  of  treatment  could  re- 
lieve. The  third  was  a Brahmin  woman  suffering  from 
chronic  indigestion.  It  did  seem  that  more  hopeful  pa- 
tients than  these  first  three  could  have  been  had,  but  soon 
acute  and  more  hopeful  cases  appeared.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  people  wanted  it  proven  to  them  that  she  had  miracu- 
lous power  and  not  just  the  skill  of  the  regular  physician. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  demands  upon  her  time  and 
strength  left  little  for  the  regular  teaching  and  visiting  in 
the  Zenanas  to  say  nothing  of  the  study  of  the  language. 

The  realization  that  she  was  fulfilling  God’s  plan  for 
her  helped  carry  her  through  these  early  trying  days.  It 
required  no  little  amount  of  heroism  to  undertake  to  es- 
tablish a work  so  entirely  at  variance  with  ancient  Hindu 
customs.  Many  indignities  had  to  be  suffered  before  the 
mountain  of  superstition,  prejudice  and  ignorance  was 
overcome  and  medical  work  firmly  established.  It  was 
not  pleasant  upon  entering  a high-caste  Hindu  home  to  be 
reminded  that  she  was  an  unclean  object,  defiling  every- 
thing she  touched.  Sometimes  a very  sick  patient  was 
even  removed  from  bed  and  carried  into  the  courtyard, 
the  doctor  being  considered  too  unclean  to  be  permitted 
inside.  Neither  was  it  pleasant  to  reach  and  stoop  for  her 
ov/n  instruments  and  medicines,  the  doctor  being  too  un- 


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clean  to  receive  them  from  the  hand  of  a Hindu.  But  these 
things  were  all  in  the  way  of  opening  up  the  path  for 
those  who  came  later.  Such  treatment  is  now  compara- 
tively rare,  the  confidence  of  the  public  having  been  won. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  work  all  medical  attention,  as 
well  as  medicines  was  given  gratuitously.  Later  a small 
fee  of  two  cents  a bottle  was  charged  for  medicine.  Where 
the  patient  was  very  poor  no  charge  was  made.  Dr.  Kug- 
ler  discovered  also  that  a call  in  the  home  was  more 
greatly  appreciated  if  a small  fee  was  charged.  As  few  of 
the  women  in  India  can  read,  and  fewer  have  spoons, 
a novel  method  of  marking  doses  of  medicine  was  in- 
stalled. A strip  of  paper,  with  notches  cut  in  the  side  to 
mark  the  size  of  the  dose,  was  pasted  on  the  side  of  the 
bottle.  Very  explicit  the  directions  had  to  be,  for  the 
patient  was  likely  to  chew  and  swallow  the  paper  and 
throw  the  powder  away. 

The  town  of  Guntur  had  at  this  time  16,000  to  18,000  in- 
habitants. The  go-down  of  the  Zenana  Home  was  fitted 
up  with  a small  closet,  a table  and  a few  shelves.  The 
east  veranda,  with  the  doctor’s  dressing  room,  served  as 
treatment  rooms  and  the  work  was  begun.  All  classes 
availed  themselves  of  the  services  of  the  doctor — Brah- 
mans, Sudras,  Mohammedans,  Pariahs,  coolies,  outcastes, 
Parsees  and  Christians,  besides  Anglo-Indians.  During  this 
first  year  she  treated  six  hundred  patients,  some  of  them 
being  brought  from  twenty  and  thirty  miles  away.  In 
her  journal  we  read:  “Oct.  9,  1884,  have  determined  to  have 
a hospital  within  the  next  two  years.”  And  adds,  “Little 
did  I know  of  the  long  years  of  waiting  ahead.” 

In  November,  a note  shows  that  the  supply  of  medicine 
was  exhausted,  no  funds  were  on  hand  and  no  money  had 
been  received  from  America.  She  then  decided  to  take  one 
year  for  the  study  of  the  language.  When  the  announce- 
ment was  made  that  no  new  calls  would  be  received  there 
were  many  unhappy  hours  for  her. 

The  following  year,  1885,  she  was  notified  that  she  had 
been  regularly  appointed  as  medical  missionary,  and  that 
money  would  be  supplied  for  the  rental  of  a house  as  a 
dispensary.  How  happy  she  was  when  she  had  a house 
in  which  to  receive  her  patients  instead  of  simply  on  a 
veranda!  A meeting  had  been  held  the  previous  year  in 
the  interest  of  a hospital.  Although  but  four  or  five  mis- 
sionaries were  present,  R.  1000  was  subscribed  for  the 
purpose.  From  1889-91  the  work  was  closed  owing  to  the 


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absence  of  the  missionary.  She  gave  much  time  during 
these  years  to  the  study  of  hospital  buildings  and  equip- 
ment, so  that  when  the  time  came  she  was  ready  with 
ideas  and  plans.  A tract  of  eighteen  acres  of  land  was 
purchased  in  the  north  end  of  the  town,  and  here  the  first 
building  erected,  which  was  the  dispensary,  was  opened 
in  February,  1893.  The  same  day  that  saw  the  dispensary 
opened  saw  ground  for  the  hospital  broken.  Dr.  Kugler 
herself  removing  the  first  spadeful  of  earth  by  torch  light. 

A meeting  in  the  interest  of  a wall  around  the  Hos- 
pital Compound  was  held  in  July  of  1893.  At  the  meeting 
of  the  Zenana  Conference  the  following  February,  Dr. 
Kugler  was  authorized  to  make  a tour  in  the  interest  of 
this  wall.  She  spent  the  months  of  February,  March  and 
April  in  touring  Vinukonda,  the  Palnad,  Bapatla  and  Tenali 
Taluks.  The  tour  through  the  Palnad  resulted  in  little 
except  the  creating  of  interest  in  the  hospital  that  was 
to  be.  The  results  in  Bapatla  and  Tenali  Taluks  were 
more  encouraging,  the  officials  in  .Tenali  accompanying 
Dr.  Kugler  from  door  to  door  urging  the  people  to  give. 
When  Dr.  Kugler  returned  on  April  28  circumstances  com- 
pelled her  to  abandon  all  further  touring  for  the  time,  and 
it  was  not  until  1897  that  she  could  again  take  up  this 
special  task,  making  a tour  of  a few  days  down  the  Old 
Madras  Road.  Three  thousand  of  the  five  thousand  rupees 
needed  for  the  wall  had  been  secured  through  her  efforts. 
The  entire  amount  could  doubtless  have  been  obtained 
had  it  not  been  necessary  for  her  to  take  up  such  addi- 
tional school  work  as  to  make  further  touring  impos- 
sible. The  wall  was  completed  by  the  gift  of  a friend  of 
Dr.  Kugler. 

Having  been  invited  by  the  Woman’s  Congress  of  Mis- 
sions to  make  an  address  in  Chicago,  she  came  to  America 
that  same  year,  and  the  dispensary  had  to  be  closed. 

During  her  stay  of  two  and  a half  months  she  appeared 
before  twenty-eight  audiences  in  the  interest  of  our  medi- 
cal work.  Four  years  later,  in  1897,  upon  the  occasion 
of  the  Diamond  Jubilee  of  Queen  Victoria,  the  original 
hospital  building  was  formally  opened. 

The  year  1883  saw  medical  work  for  women  through 
women  begun,  the  year  1893  the  first  of  the  group  of  hos- 
pital buildings  completed.  The  second  decade  saw  the 
arrival  of  the  first  trained  American  nurse.  Miss  Katherine 
Fahs,  who  reached  Guntur,  December,  1894,  and  the  sec- 
ond and  third  medical  missionaries  in  Dr.  Mary  Baer, 


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December,  1895,  and  Dr.  Elsie  Reed  Mitchell  in  December, 
1903.  The  third  decade,  or  the  years  1904-1914,  was 
marked  by  the  addition  of  a numiber  of  buildings — a diet 
kitchen  and  laboratory  annex  in  1907,  the  hospital  chapel  in 
1909,  the  gift  of  a friend  who  visited  the  hospital  and  saw 
the  need;  the  Hugh  Hencken  Ward  for  Children,  a special 
gift  given  Dr.  Kugler  by  Mrs.  Hencken  in  memory  of  her 
son,  opened  on  Christmas  Day,  1911,  and  the  beautiful 
nurses’  home  and  training  school,  made  possible  by  the 
gifts  of  the  'women  of  Maryland  Synod,  opened  Decem- 
ber, 1912. 

The  third  decade  brought  to  the  mission  another  medical 
missionary.  Dr.  Eleanor  B.  Wolf,  and  the  second  American 
nurse.  Miss  R.  Hoffman. 

The  motto  chosen  for  the  hospital,  “Ourselves  your  ser- 
vants for  Jesus’  sake,’’  might  well  be  taken  as  the  motto 
of  the  physician  in  charge,  for  quietly,  unassumingly,  pa- 
tiently, she  has  given  of  herself  until  her  services  have 
been  recognized,  not  only  by  the  missionaries  and  the 
people  of  the  community,  but  by  the  government,  as  was 
manifested  by  the  bestowal  of  the  Kaiser-I-Hind  Medal,  a 
decoration  given  only  for  specially  distinguished  public 
service  in  India.  Dr.  Kugler  was  one  of  the  first  women 
to  be  thus  honored.  In  March,  1917,  she  was  summoned 
to  appear  before  Lord  Pentland,  the  Governor  of  Madras, 
to  receive  a second  recognition  for  distinguished  service, 
this  time  the  bar  to  the  Kaiser-I-Hind  Medal. 

Dr.  Kugler  has,  from  the  beginning  of  the  work  of 
the  Tuberculosis  Sanitorium,  an  interdenominational  en- 
terprise, been  on  the  committee,  and  for  a time  was  in 
charge  during  the  absence  of  the  superintendent.  She  has, 
for  many  years,  been  a member  of  the  Council  of  the 
“Association  of  Medical  Women  in  India,”  this  Association 
being  composed  of  medical  missionaries  and  other  physi- 
cians. In  addition,  she  represents  the  Guntur  Mission  on 
the  Council  of  the  Medical  School  of  Vellore.  She  has  the 
distinction  of  being  the  head  of  the  largest  hospital  in 
South  India. 

Dr.  Kugler,  in  her  work,  never  forgets  that  healing  of 
the  soul  is  of  greater  importance  than  relief  of  the  body, 
and  she  uses  her  professional  skill  as  a means  to  that 
end.  Many  shall  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed,  not  only 
because  of  restoration  to  health,  but  because  she  has  shown 
them  the  Christ,  their  Saviour.  Many  have  heard  of  Jesus 
that  would  perhaps  never  have  heard  otherwise.  Perhaps 


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DR.  KUGLER  IN  THE  HUGH  HENCKEN  WARD  FOR  CHILDREN. 


none  have  appreciated  the  services  of  Dr.  Kugler  more 
than  the  Rajah  of  Ellore,  who,  in  gratitude  for  the  res- 
toration of  his  wife  to  health,  gave  to  the  hospital  a 
gift  of  a choultry,  or  inn,  where  relatives  of  hospital 
patients  may  stay.  This  building  was  opened  April  17, 
1914,  the  donor  making  the  principal  address. 

In  his  address  the  Rajah,  after  enumerating  the  build- 
ings erected  thus  far  and  giving  the  total  cost  of  the 
same  as  R.  233,000,  giving  also  the  number  of  patients 
treated  in  the  dispensary  between  the  years  1900  to  1914 
as  100,779,  operations  performed,  7,739,  and  children  born 
in  the  hospital,  1,541,  paid  a high  tribute  to  Dr.  Kugler 
when  he  said,  in  effect;  “A  single  woman  at  an  early 
age  became  proficient  in  medicine,  obtained  a diploma, 
left  her  home  and  came  to  Guntur  to  serve  her  Lord.  Do 
you  think  it  possible  for  one  soul  to  accomplish  such  a 
tremendous  work  that  wrought  good  to  so  many  souls 
without  the  help  of  God?  Those  benefltted  by  this  doctor 
are  scattered  far  and  wide.  It  is  an  instance  of  what  one 
soul  can  do  for  the  good  of  humanity  provided  it  is  in- 
spired with  love  to  God.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  she 
is  a sympathetic  surgeon  and  physician.  She  takes  only 
moderate  charges  from  any,  and  her  services  to  the  poor 
she  gives  gratis.  Not  any  gifts  will  she  accept  for  her- 
self, but  credits  everything  to  the  hospital  account.  She 
manages  a staff  of  sixty  subordinates  and  none  are  al- 
lowed to  accept  any  gifts  from  patients.”  The  Rajah 
named  his  youngest  child  Annamma  in  honor  of  the 
doctor.  As  a mark  of  respect  he  caused  to  be  distributed 
on  opening  day  five  hundred  copies  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  which  he  had  translated  into  Telugu  verse.  In 
conclusion  he  said:  “We  shall  be  praying  the  Lord  Al- 
mighty God,  Dr.  Kugler,  that  He  may  grant  you  long 
life  and  sound  health  to  carry  on  the  labor  of  love  begun 
by  you.  May  the  Lord  our  God  bless  you  and  your  in- 
stitution, that  you  may  serve  as  an  example  to  us  to 
follow.” 


Women's  Missionary  Society  of  the 
United  Lutheran  Church  in  America 
Literature  Headquarters, 

844  Drexel  Building,  Philadelphia 

5 cents  each;  50  cents  a dozen. 


